Housing Policies

Residency Requirement
buildings

Living on campus is an important part of your overall success as a BGSU student. It has been proven that students who live on campus have a higher GPA – and persistence towards graduation – faster than their peers who live off campus. Because of this, Bowling Green State University’s Board of Trustees has set a Residency Requirement that states a student must live on campus their first two years. The Residency Requirement is enforced unless one or more of the exemption criteria are met -or- the student has an approved housing appeal.

Housing and Dining agreement

The On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreements below establish the terms and conditions of occupancy in the University residence halls between the room occupant and Bowling Green State University. All residents are expected to review and understand the obligations outlined in their agreement.

Students Over 18 | Students over the age of 18 will electronically agree to the terms as part of the housing signup process. Print the agreement below for your records.

Students Under 18 | Students under the age of 18 must print the agreement below, have it signed by a parent or guardian and return the form to the Office of Residents Life prior to Move-In.

Once a student has completed the housing sign-up process, they have accepted the terms and conditions of the On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement for the entire academic year (August – May). In rare circumstances, the Office of Residence Life grants requests to release students from the On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement.

Housing Exemptions

Please review the following reasons a student can be exempt from the Residency Requirement. All but three exemptions requires the student to fill out the Residential Verification Form, no later than 30 days prior to Move-in, and submit any additional supporting documents required to the Office of Residence Life.

Have fulfilled one of the requirements to be considered an Independent Student (as determined by the Office of Financial Aid)

Have completed 12 months of consecutive Active Military Service

Are transferring to BGSU, has been out of high school for a minimum of two years and have completed at least 12 credit hours at an accredited institution of higher education post high school graduation

*The office of Residence Life considers the permanent home address of the Student’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) to be the address of record on file with federal, state and local tax agencies and where a minimum of one of the Student’s parent(s) or legal guardian(s) resides. Students who qualify to reside off-campus under this clause do not need to request housing. Please note that providing false information to the University is a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

Helpful tip: The Office of Residence Life cautions you against entering into an off-campus housing agreement until you are certain you meet the first three exceptions –or– have received an official notice that your appeal of the residency requirement has been approved.

Housing Appeal

There are three types of appeals that will be considered for exemption from the On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement: medical/disability, financial hardship and personal. In each case, students will be asked to provide extensive documentation and rational supporting their request.

When a student believes they are unable to fulfill their On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement obligations due to a disability or medical condition, they may pursue being released from the Residency Requirement.

Federal law defines a disability as a “physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities.” If, after receiving the completed documentation from a student’s physician and it is determined that the Office of Residence Life and the Office of Accessibility Services cannot accommodate a student’s disability with on-campus housing, the student will be released from the Residency Requirement.

When students believe they are unable to fulfill their On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement obligations due to a significant change in their own, their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) financial situation, they may pursue a release from the Residency Requirement. It is the responsibility of the student to quantify how the change in their financial situation is beyond their control and severe enough to prevent them from meeting their financial obligations to Bowling Green State University.

When students believe they are unable to fulfill their On-Campus Housing and Dining Agreement obligations due to other extenuating circumstances beyond their control, they may pursue being released from the Residency Requirement.

Filing a Housing Appeal

Type a specific statement identifying what has changed in your situation.

Complete and return any additional documentation required for your specific type of appeal to the appropriate office. This documentation will be emailed to your BGSU email address and will come in the form of a PDF file. If additional documentation in not received within 30 days, the appeal will become inactive.

Students will be notified in writing, via their BGSU email, of the outcome of their appeal. Please note that this process can take up to 4 weeks.

If appeals are granted, the student may receive a refund according to the Forfeiture Schedule located on the Refund Schedule page.

Housing Refund

There only three circumstances that the University will grant a Housing Refund and will only be granted in accordance to the Forfeiture Schedule. You can find the Forfeiture Schedule and qualifications located on the Refund Schedule page. Students who believe they meet one of the refund circumstances should contact the Office of Residence Life immediately to minimize financial loss.

The Office Accessibility Services and the Office of Residence Life work together to coordinate housing accommodations for students with disabilities and chronic health conditions. Students who would like to request a housing accommodation, first must be registered with Accessibility Services and then fill out the Specialized Housing Accommodations Form and return it one of three ways:

BGSU offers alternative versions of all of its pages for our users. You can select the high-contrast version below to persist throughout your BGSU website experience.

Bowling Green State University (BGSU) has built its website around the Standards of the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) 5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The website was built in compliance with the accessibility standards established by section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and detailed in section 1194.22 of the Code of Federal Regulations, "Web-based intranet and internet information and applications" (https://www.section508.gov/).

BGSU utilizes many webmasters across campus to maintain all of its web properties. Keeping the BGSU website in compliance with section 508 is a joint effort between Accessibility Services, Marketing and Communications and Information Technology Services. If any page is discovered to be inaccessible, please report it using the above link and we will ensure that the issue is addressed.

EVENTS

To our guests with disabilities, please indicate if you need special services, assistance or appropriate modifications to fully participate in this event by contacting Accessibility Services, access@bgsu.edu, 419-372-8495. Please notify us prior to the event.